Elise Hudson – Marketo Marketing Blog – Best Practices and Thought Leadershiphttps://blog.marketo.com
Best Practices and Thought LeadershipWed, 20 Mar 2019 12:30:25 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.8Michael Brenner’s 5 Skills You Need to Become the Next CMOhttps://blog.marketo.com/2018/10/michael-brenners-5-skills-you-need-to-become-the-next-cmo.html
https://blog.marketo.com/2018/10/michael-brenners-5-skills-you-need-to-become-the-next-cmo.html#respondMon, 15 Oct 2018 12:30:02 +0000http://blog.marketo.com/?p=70686The marketing world today is a whole different ball game than it used to be. You have to come up with big ways to stand out to capture the attention of your customers and prospects. It is about knowing what content your customers and prospects want to consume. It’s also about knowing when to take […]

]]>The marketing world today is a whole different ball game than it used to be. You have to come up with big ways to stand out to capture the attention of your customers and prospects. It is about knowing what content your customers and prospects want to consume. It’s also about knowing when to take action to engage them with those stories. This new era of marketing is all about storytelling and curating customer-centric content.

Michael Brenner recently uncovered the five critical skills a CMO needs to produce content with the customer at the heart while also demonstrating business results through leads, revenue, and ROI.

In this blog, I’ll recap those five key skills so that you can apply them to your own best practices.

Take Accountability

One of the first tasks of the CMO is to look at why your marketing organization exists. It is important to know and understand the goals of the organization to ensure that everyone within the organization is aligned with those goals. The marketing team needs to work together as one with a belief in those goals to achieve results. Being aligned will allow the CMO to hold the marketing organization accountable for contributing to the results of the business.

Take on the Art of Storytelling

This new wave of marketing demands for marketers to look at how their efforts are serving customers. It is crucial to start to market from what Michael calls, “a culture of empathy.” This means putting the customer first, and at the heart of what marketing is doing. Additionally, the marketing team is developing content that customers can relate to, to know that there are real people behind each of the efforts sharing their stories and expertise. Becoming a customer-centric and obsessed marketing organization is the best way to show results.

Talk to the Business

Not only is it necessary to ensure your marketing organization is aligned with your mission, but it is imperative to establish relationships across the business. Marketing should not act in isolation. Developing partnerships and space for collaboration with other parts of the business will ensure that you are all working towards the same goals: being customer obsessed and driving revenue & ROI. This will allow you to create a customer base that has continuous and evergreen engagement from the stories you are telling as a company.

Courage to Take on the Culture

Marketing is more than creating content to sell a product or service. It is also the ability to engage your audience with thought leadership and content to help them learn and grow in their profession. This allows for you to have a discussion with your customers and to encourage two-way dialogue to foster and build your audience.

Leadership (To Reach Across the Business)

As the CMO, it is your responsibility to ensure the broader organization understands how the marketing team operates & contributes to the overall business results. It is about communicating and demonstrating how the marketing organization can move the business forward.

Final Thoughts

Your customers need to be at the heart of everything your marketing organization does. Specifically, aiming towards curating content that keeps your customers continually coming back for engaging with your brand. It is vital that this content is aligned not only with your marketing goals but with the broader business. This will, in turn, lead to better business results with growing ROI over time.

]]>https://blog.marketo.com/2018/10/michael-brenners-5-skills-you-need-to-become-the-next-cmo.html/feed0How to Build a Vibrant Community on Twitter with Madalyn Sklarhttps://blog.marketo.com/2017/08/build-vibrant-community-twitter-madalyn-skylar.html
https://blog.marketo.com/2017/08/build-vibrant-community-twitter-madalyn-skylar.html#respondThu, 31 Aug 2017 12:30:24 +0000http://blog.marketo.com/?p=67282In this blog, we'll cover Madalyn Skylar's advice on building a vibrant community on Twitter from a recent #marketochat.

]]>In one of our bi-monthly #marketochat’s, we discussed How to Build a Vibrant Community on Twitter with Social Media Influencer, Madalyn Sklar. Twitter continues to be a place that people go in order to find out brand information, so it is critical that you are building the right community for your brand and follower base.

In this blog, we’ll cover Madalyn Sklar’s advice on building a vibrant community on Twitter from a recent #marketochat.

Why is engagement on Twitter so important for B2B marketers?

Engagement on Twitter is crucial for B2B marketers because the more you increase your engagement with your followers, the more you increase brand awareness, customer support, and advocacy. By increasing engagement, you are able to personally interact with customers and prospects, which in turn can drive leads, sales, and ultimately profits.

What steps do you consider when developing a Twitter engagement strategy?

The first step is to look at your community. It is important to understand who they are and what they like because they will be the ones sharing your content. The next step is to actually map out your plan and think about what will drive long-term engagement. You want to ensure that the interaction between your brand and your community continues to develop over time. It is important to take note of what works and what does not so that you can make changes to your strategy and continue on the path of long-term growth.

What kind of content do you recommend posting on Twitter?

Posting a variety of content on Twitter is essential to show the “human” side of your brand. Besides posting relevant articles pertaining to your niche, it is also necessary to focus on incorporating some of the more popular content like images and videos to bring more attention to what you are sharing. With videos, in particular, you have the power to really connect with people and boost engagement. It’s important that not only do you pay attention to the overall performance of your posts but see if you can recognize types of posts that perform better than others—for example highly visual posts, versus just text.

How frequently should businesses be posting on Twitter? Does it differ for B2B vs. B2C?

For someone who is just starting out on Twitter, it would be best to start off with 3 to 5 posts a day in order to build up your brand and audience. You can try out different things to see what works best for you and your audience. Frequency does differ from business to business because what the audience wants and expects will vary, so it is really best to experiment. Once, you do find that sweet spot that works, stick with it for a while but don’t be afraid to continue to experiment.

Any tips for encouraging executives to let you be a little more fun and personal on the company social channels?

In many organizations, there is some hesitation around having a looser, more fun version of your brand on social channels. To allay the fear that your executives may have around this, it may make sense to build a set of posting guidelines that you and your executive stakeholders agree upon. In those guidelines, you would define things like voice, tone, hashtag usage and types of posts. Additionally, you may want to make the case for giving your employees a chance to take over the company social channels. Employees are your best advocates and can give new insight and perspective into the company, and with an agreed upon set of guidelines you will have something to guide your employees as they share their perspectives.

The most important part of social media success is listening to your audience. You should be in there tweeting every day and replying to all of your notifications. Followers today expect almost immediate responses across social channels, but especially on Twitter. Participating in Twitter chats is also a great way to engage and connect with other influencers and people on Twitter too.

Final Thoughts

Twitter is such an awesome platform for businesses, as it really allows them to connect with their audience as a brand; however, you need to have a strategy behind what you do. A strong strategy will allow you to gain a strong follower base that continues to grow long term. This will, in turn, create more leads and business for your company.

What strategy have you found that works best to build a brand on Twitter? Let us know in the comments, and be sure to tune into our next #marketochat on August 31 at 1 pm PST for tips on How to Drive Authentic Engagement on Social Media with guest Brian Fanzo.

]]>A few weeks ago, on #marketochat, we discussed How to Increase Your B2B Social Media Engagement with Social Media Influencer, Neal Shaffer. Today, having social media presence is a necessity for any B2B organization. So how can organizations not only participate in social media but succeed and drive social media engagement? In this blog, we’ll cover Neal Shaffer’s answers to five critical questions on how brands can increase social engagement across the variety of social media channels.

What Are the Core Elements in Any Good Social Engagement Strategy?

People like to be heard and want to know that their thoughts and opinions matter. This is the case with social media as well, it is critical that you listen to your audience and understand what they are looking for in order to achieve greater engagement.

Are There Certain Social Channels You Recommend B2B Marketers Focus on More Than Others? If So, Why or Why Not?

First and foremost, it is important to be where your customers are. With so many different social media channels, customers are everywhere and you have to determine which channels receive the most engagement and interaction from your targeted audience. It is essential to spend the time and do the research about each channel. Before you determine if it’s right for your audience you should learn the lay of the land, including the rules of engagement—because each channel has its own language.

What Tips Can You Give B2B Marketers Trying to Build Their Twitter Following?

The best way to represent your own brand is through your own content or by curating content. This gives your audience a sense of where your company stands within a particular industry and what type of followers you are trying to reach.

It is also important to remember to engage with others you want to follow. Twitter magic can work, but only after you engage and make those connections to form relationships. These relationships that you establish can also be beneficial in the sharing of content and ideas.

In addition, hosting weekly or monthly tweet chats are a great way to interact with your audience. It gives you an opportunity to connect with your followers or new users who are joining into your chat for the first time. Through chats, you can find out what your audience is interested in and what topics they engage with more.

What Are the Most Effective Ways for B2B Marketers to Increase Facebook Engagement?

Paid social, groups, videos, and Livestream are the most effective ways to increase Facebook engagement. Facebook has so many different ways for you to target very specific groups of people with paid advertisements. This allows you to more effectively target leads, as you can focus your paid advertisements on the people who will likely respond and interact with it.

How Can B2B Marketers Leverage LinkedIn for Engagement?

Marketers can publish posts to gain credibility and a position as an expert in your industry. You can do this through sharing your own content as well as relevant articles to your industry and what you are interested in.

It is also a great place for employee advocacy opportunities as you can have your employees share the content you are creating to reach even greater audiences.

What Metrics Do You Think Are Most Relevant for B2B Marketers to Track?

When looking at engagement, you should look at the ratio of engagement and followers. This will allow you to figure out if you are reaching a broader audience outside of your followers or see if you are potentially only reaching your follower base. It is important to know this information so that you can change your social media strategy according to your needs whether that is a need to focus on reaching more people outside your following or trying to maintain your current follower base.

You can also look at click through rates to determine, which content your audience engages with compared to the content they do not. This will give you insight into the type of content you should create more of and what content you should revise to appeal more to your audience.

Final Thoughts

No matter what your end objective is, whether it is to achieve more engagement or learn how to use a different channel to better fit the needs of your customers, the first step is to research that channel and become familiar with the language used. After acquainting yourself with the channel, develop a strategy for curating and sharing content. Once you start receiving engagement and build a following, pay attention to what posts work and don’t work because the more your content is shared the more potential you have to reach new audiences and maybe go viral.

Interested in learning more from thought leaders? Be sure to join us on Periscope and Facebook Live Thursday, August 10 at 1 pm PST for Best Practices for Building and Maintaining a Marketing and Sales Partnership with guest Hally Pinaud, Principal Product Marketing Manager for Marketo.